


I build my home in you

by StrangeNoise



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Anxiety, Bottom Richie Tozier, Boys In Love, Canada, Depression, Emotional Sex, Established Relationship, Feels, Helpless Richie, It gets very emotional before there's porn, Kissing, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Moving, Overstimulation, Richie and Eddie move to Canada, Richie is a very supportive boyfriend, Smut, Therapy, Top Eddie Kaspbrak, Weight Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-17 18:15:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28729503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrangeNoise/pseuds/StrangeNoise
Summary: What starts as a joke becomes the most exciting thing Richie and Eddie have ever done, as they move to Canada together. But everything is not sunshine and happiness like they had hoped, when Eddie's anxiety gets the better of him and Richie can only watch helplessly as his boyfriend self-destructs...
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 2
Kudos: 43





	I build my home in you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [imnotreddieyet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/imnotreddieyet/gifts).



> **TW/CW: depression, anxiety, anxiety-induced weight loss**
> 
> There is a part in this story, where Eddie isn't doing very well mental health wise so in case that's something that triggers you, please proceed with care!

It starts as a joke. When Eddie divorces Myra first thing after he wakes up from a week-long coma in Derry and soon after, an Oompa-Loompa is elected president of the United States, many people joke about migrating to Canada. Richie’s done about three shows at festivals in Canada and will claim people up there would love him just as much as they do in the US. Eddie will chime in about the functioning healthcare system and how in Canada, his medication and therapy wouldn’t cost him a small fortune. And that’s where the discussion ends the first few times. The two men settle back into their lives in Chicago and try to deal with what is happening around them.

But the longer they joke about it, the more reasons they find to go and leave the country. And even as more and more practical concerns are brought into the mix, it still sounds like a big adventure for the two of them, whenever they talk about it. Then, one day, Richie finds himself looking through house listings in the suburbs of Toronto and Canadian immigration laws. When he tells Eddie about it later that evening, while they’re cooking dinner together, he expects to be ridiculed. Instead, Eddie blushes to the tips of his ears and admits that he did the same thing a week ago. The two men have a good laugh about it but then drop the topic again until dinner is served and they’re sitting at the dining room table together.

“So…is Canada something we would both be wanting to do?”, Eddie asks after a few moments of silence. Richie doesn’t have to think long to answer that.

“I’m going wherever you’re going”, he tells Eddie with a smile, “So if you wanna go to Canada, I’m game.” Eddie nods slowly.

“It’s a really big step”, he says, thoughtfully digging through his mashed potatoes, “We shouldn’t rush into anything.” 

So, for the next six weeks, they put a list of pros and cons up on their fridge. And every time one of them has an item for either side, they are free to add it. By the end of the six weeks, there are almost twice as many pros as there are cons. And the cons – most of them added by Eddie – for the most part, are more concerns and things they would have to deal with that could get annoying than actual reasons not to move. 

Then, they wait another eight weeks. This time, it’s because Eddie’s therapist suggested it. Neither he nor Eddie are entirely convinced that this idea for a move to Canada is something Eddie would really want for the future instead of him trying to distance himself from his old life as much as and in any way he can. That eight-week wait, however, doesn’t stop Richie and Eddie from making plans. They start talking about finances and about selling Richie’s house. After six of those eight weeks, when there seems to be no change in Eddie’s desire to move with Richie, the brunet begins hinting to his agency that there’s a substantial possibility of him leaving the country in the near future. At first, no one is thrilled. Richie has a brand here in the US, he’s famous in the states and there’s a small tour along the east coast planned for the next summer. 

But then the eight weeks are up, and Eddie is still convinced that he wants to go to Canada. So, Richie knows where he’s going because there is just no way he’s going to be apart from Eddie ever again. And after both Eddie’s therapist and Richie’s agency have seen their respective client’s determination, they accept that this is not just a spur of the moment thing and do their best to help the two men.

Both Richie and Eddie are giddy when they start making plans for their move in earnest – even though it’s not going to be until the start of the next winter, as Richie has contractual obligations to fulfill. Plus, the brunet things that one last tour – and be it as small as it is – would be a really nice way to say goodbye to the country he grew up in and lived in for most of his life. The delay in departure also gives them time for more elaborate planning and preparations, which is right up Eddie’s alley. At first, Richie tries to be as involved as he can, since this is important for both of them. But soon, he realizes that Eddie prefers working on things like these on his own and settles for providing the papers his boyfriend needs and occasionally looking at some things Eddie found for them. 

By the time Richie’s last tour starts, Eddie has most of the organizational and administrative stuff for the both of them figured out which leaves Richie proud, impressed, and a little embarrassed at the same time. The biggest consolation for him is that Eddie loves doing this stuff and it helps his anxiety greatly when he has control over all things that need to be organized or scheduled. 

So, by the time Richie returns from his tour, he returns to what amounts to a house that’s pretty much already in boxes because in a fit of anxiety Eddie had gone and packed most of their stuff. He still seems a little stressed but mostly fine and when they drive to Ben and Bev’s secluded lodge in the middle of nowhere for one last weekend with the Losers while they’re all in the same country, Eddie seems like his usual self. 

And then, suddenly, they’re in a new house in a different country, trying to get settled. Thanks to Eddie’s rigorous planning there are no nasty surprises and only a few things don’t go as planned. The two men laugh about these bumps in the road together or complain about them to each other but for the most part, things work out more or less like they expected them to. 

What neither of them expected, though, was how quickly Eddie’s anxiety would be catching up with him. They’ve barely been in Canada a month when there are some serious cracks in his composure. He snaps at Richie more and for less and less valid reasons. At first, Richie gets it. This is a new environment for them both and Eddie isn’t too fond of change at the best of times. Uprooting his life like this was probably far harder for him than it was for Richie. But Eddie left no doubt that this was what he wanted, and Richie trusts him to know what he wants. And, hey, maybe it is time to unpack the last of his moving boxes after two and a half weeks in their new home and Eddie’s rant was warranted. 

But things just get worse from there. Richie will leave some dishes in the sink or not throw a towel in the hamper where it belongs, and Eddie will go off on him for several minutes. And at first, Richie accepts it. He doesn’t like it but he’s willing to take some complaints if it eases Eddie’s anxiety for a moment and puts him in a better mood again later. During these first few weeks, Eddie will apologize most of the time after he’s yelled at Richie for something inconsequential. He’ll tell Richie that he just needs a little more time to get used to all of this and that he’ll be less irritable once he gets there. And Richie believes him.

But the longer they’re in Canada, the worse Eddie’s mood gets. After two months he’s just constantly on edge and it’s starting to affect Richie too. The brunet tries valiantly to be there for his boyfriend, to be supportive and caring, and to help his job hunting. But Eddie just keeps pushing him away more and more. He goes on more runs than usual too and Richie, to his great shame, goes from missing Eddie while he’s gone to enjoying the room to breathe it grants him when his boyfriend is gone for a bit. Any meal they take together becomes a tense affair where it once was filled with laughter and joy. They sit opposite each other at the dinner table and sometimes one of them will try to make conversation but it never leads anywhere. 

Around this time, the other Losers are starting to notice a change in Eddie’s behavior too. In the first days after their move, he had sent lots of pictures and was willing to talk at length about their new home and his plans for the future. But as time went on, Eddie became quieter and quieter. Now he only answers in the group chat when someone asks him something directly – and even then, his answers are short at best and plain rude at worst. Bev is the first to pick up on it, messaging Richie during their eighth week in Canada and wanting to know if everything is okay. Richie, truthfully, tells her that they’re going through a bit of a rough patch right now but that he’s confident they can work things out soon enough. He has no idea at this point, that the worst is yet to come. 

Another two weeks later, Eddie’s mood plummets so suddenly and violently that Richie finds himself wanting the screaming, shouting, angry Eddie from before back. This new Eddie barely leaves the house anymore and has completely dropped his fitness routine. He also doesn’t cook anymore – at least for the most part – and if it weren’t for Richie, the brunet is pretty sure Eddie would just stop eating altogether. For a week or two, Richie takes on the cooking duty around the house but when work with his new agency starts kicking off for real, he often can’t find the time to take care of that too. So, more often than not, they order takeout. There’s a Vietnamese place nearby that has phenomenal food but most of the time, even when it’s his favorite dish, Eddie will just sit at the table and poke at it a little with his fork. He’ll eat a few bites of it and then tell Richie he’ll eat the rest some other time. Richie can’t tell if he actually does so while he’s gone for work but when he returns from meetings or emerges from his office the day after, the takeout carton is always gone.

After around two weeks of this, Eddie starts visibly losing weight. Even when he’s wearing one of his own hoodies it now looks like he’s wearing one that is two sizes too big. He pretty much can’t wear pants without a belt anymore and since he doesn’t have anywhere to be, either way, he takes to wearing sweatpants most days. Under normal circumstances, Richie wouldn’t mind that at all. He’s been poking at Eddie to wear more comfortable clothes around the house for ages and the other man never listened. But he knows that Eddie isn’t doing this for comfort – at least not in any desirable way. It is obvious that Eddie’s doing it because he doesn’t have the strength to put on anything else. Richie suspects his boyfriend is also trying to hide from the fact that he’s losing weight and fast. Pulling the drawstrings on your sweats a little tighter is a whole different affair from having to tighten your belt every time you put on your pants. 

Richie wracks his brain about what he could do to help Eddie. He tries to be extra funny around him – to no avail. He tries to be supportive and get Eddie to talk about his worries so they can work things out together – but Eddie shuts down completely on that. In the end, most of what Richie does amounts to damage control. He argues with Eddie until he gets at least a few calories into his body, drags him out of the house to go on quiet, tense walks through the neighborhood with him so he leaves the house at all. But Richie doesn’t feel like it has any lasting effect on his partner and the longer this goes on, the more draining it gets for him, too. He doesn’t realize how much, at first, but at some point, people at the agency begin asking if everything is okay back home. 

Richie starts to feel like life is pulling him apart in every single direction and he doesn’t know what to do to stop it. He talks about it with Bev, of course, and with Stan too. But they can’t really help either and every time he brings up Eddie’s bad mood, Richie feels like he’s talking shit about his boyfriend behind his back. 

This tense, uncomfortable state lasts until around the ‘four months in Canada’-mark before there’s some change. And at first, Richie can’t tell if it’s for the better or for worse. 

It happens on a Sunday when both Richie and Eddie are home. Because conversation between them has mostly run dry over the past few weeks, they’re sitting on different couches in the living room and watching reruns of some tv show neither of them truly pays attention to. Richie’s on his phone, scrolling through Twitter to distract himself from the tension in the room. On tv, the program switches from the show to commercials and a moment later, an ad for some Disneyworld holiday deal is blaring through the speakers. Richie goes to grab the remote and turn the volume down a bit and then he hears it. Soft sniffling sounds are coming from the other sofa. The brunet turns and finds Eddie, eyes glued to the screen and tears running down his face.

“Gee, Eddie, if you wanted to go to Disneyworld so bad, you could’ve just told me, you know?”, Richie says before he can stop himself. At any other point in time, a comment like this would have gotten an eye roll at best. But right now, Eddie’s head turns abruptly, and he glares at Richie.

“I don’t want to go to Disneyworld!”, Eddie hisses and there’s more emotion in those few words than he has shown in the past weeks. Richie blinks, confused, for a moment or two. Then Eddie visibly deflates and buries his face in his hands.

“I just want to go home…” 

It’s only six words but suddenly everything falls into place. Eddie bursts into sobs after saying them and Richie knows with a start what’s been plaguing his boyfriend for the past months. 

“But this is our home now, Eds”, he says carefully. At that, Eddie lets himself fall over to the side on the couch and buries his face in a throw pillow. His whole body is wracked with sobs and the fabric in front of him does nothing to stifle them. Within the blink of an eye, Richie is out of his seat and kneeling next to the other sofa. Carefully, he places a hand on Eddie’s back, rubbing soothing circles between his shoulder blades. At first, the smaller man tenses but then he lets go and allows himself to cry openly while Richie runs a comforting hand up and down his back. The brunet wishes there was anything he could do right now to get Eddie to stop crying but he figures that after bottling it all up for so long, his partner probably needs to let it all out before they’re ready to tackle this issue. So, Richie stays where he is, his knees starting to hurt from kneeling on the hardwood floor after a while but he couldn’t care less.

He can’t say when Eddie’s sobs finally abate but when they do, Richie breathes a sigh of relief.

“I’m sorry”, Eddie mutters and manages to push himself up into a sitting position. His face is covered in tears and snot and Richie doesn’t hesitate to hand him the box of tissues they keep on the coffee table. While Eddie cleans himself a bit, Richie stays where he is. He’s rubbing Eddie’s knee instead of his back now, but he feels like he finally has some connection with his boyfriend again and he’s terrified of losing it if he lets go.

“You’ve nothing to be sorry for, Eddie”, Richie says softly and looks the other in the eyes to make sure he sees he means it, “But I think there’s some stuff we need to talk about…”

“You’re right”, Eddie sighs, and tears are already welling up in his eyes again, “I should’ve told you so much sooner. But I didn’t know how and…” He stops to furiously rub at his eyes and swallow another sob. 

“I’ve been so anxious about moving here with you”, he says next and Richie nods, “But I wanted it so bad and I told myself it was going to work out somehow. So, I kind of just…pushed my anxiety to the side and tried to power through. And for the first few weeks, it was okay. Moving was exciting and we had to get used to everything, you know?”

“Yeah, it was insane”, Richie answers and he can’t help the small smile that tugs at the corners of his mouth as he says it. The first few days had indeed been a whirlwind of excitement. Between setting up the house, getting to know their neighborhood, and a mountain of bureaucracy to deal with, they’d barely had time to catch their breath. Richie had never felt closer to Eddie than in those days when they had essentially been two foreigners just trying to work things out in their new home. 

“It was”, Eddie agrees after a moment of silence, “But then routine came in and you went to work and I just…I was all alone with my anxiety and my worries and I told myself I’d get through this, that I knew all the coping mechanisms…but I got so overwhelmed so quickly. I mean, look at me! I’m a mess. We’ve been here for four months; I have no job and pretty much all I’ve done here is get more and more anxious and depressed.”

Eddie’s hands are trembling in his lap now and Richie holds his hand out so his boyfriend can take it. The other takes it and grips it so tightly, Richie is sure he’s going to hear a bone crack at some point. Eddie’s hands are cold and clammy, so unlike how they usually feel, and it’s almost like the smaller man’s clinging to Richie as if he fears he will leave at any moment. 

“And I didn’t know what to do. I was so busy with my own struggles and I just kept pushing you away more and more”, Eddie continues eventually, “And I got so scared that you were going to get sick of me. That I was going to drive you away and you would kick me out because you got tired of me. And then what would I do? I’d be so far away from home, all alone and out of options.” 

As he paints out this horrifying scenario, Eddie goes back to full-on crying. Tears run down his face and drip onto his clothes and on the spot where he and Richie are holding hands. The brunet takes that chance to squeeze Eddie’s hand as tightly as he can, in turn, hoping to calm his partner’s nerves at least somewhat. 

“I’d never get sick of you”, Richie says and hopes he manages to put as much sincerity into his words as he feels, “I’ve loved you for all my life and I didn’t even remember you for a huge part of it. A bit of a rough spot isn’t going to drive me away from you, okay?” He knows those words alone aren’t enough to soothe Eddie’s racing thoughts and the worries that make him withdraw more and more from Richie, but he has to say them, nonetheless. Above him, Eddie nods mutely and rubs at his eyes with his free hand once more.

“I know”, he croaks out, “I know all my worries are just me coming up with worst-case scenarios but…I can’t help it. I thought I could. I’ve been in therapy for months now. But I guess I’m not strong enough…”

“Are you kidding?!”, Richie exclaims, “You’re the strongest motherfucker I know. It’s been what, eighteen months since I met you again in Derry, and in that time you almost killed an evil clown, survived an assassination-attempt by said clown, divorced your wife, came out, moved in with me, and then moved to a whole different country with me. If that isn’t strong, I don’t know what the fuck is.” 

A wet, hiccupping laugh tumbles from Eddie’s lips as fresh tears roll down his face.

“Don’t think I didn’t notice how you snuck the word ‘motherfucker’ in there. Once I stop crying I’m gonna cuss you out for the mom-joke.”

“I’ll remind you”, Richie promises and allows himself to laugh for a moment too. He hasn’t heard Eddie laugh at all for weeks and the sound of it is like a balm to his soul that he didn’t know he needed until he got it. The smile on Eddie’s face is small and wavering, about to be taken over by tears and sobs again at any moment. And yet it’s the most beautiful thing Richie has seen in a while. 

“You need help”, he says, nevertheless, “I wish there was some way that we could just fix this together, but I don’t think there is…”

“I know…”

Eddie sounds so defeated when he says it that Richie finally rises from his spot in front of the sofa. Something in his knees cracks and he hisses in pain as he stands up, but he pays it no mind. Instead, he sits down next to Eddie and wraps his arms around him. The smaller man sinks heavily into Richie’s embrace, buries his face in the brunet’s chest even. And Richie feels a warmth spread through him that he hasn’t felt in far too long. For a while, the two men simply hold each other, breathing the other in and relishing the warmth and the closeness. 

“I just don’t know where to start,” Eddie admits after a few long, precious moments like this, “There’s just so much going on in my head I don’t know where to start. But the more I put off doing something, the more difficult it gets…”

Richie nods because he understands. He’s the grandmaster of putting uncomfortable things off until they seem like unsurmountable challenges – Case in point: His coming out at forty. He never thought Eddie would do the same. His boyfriend always seemed on top of things and to tackle tasks as soon as they came up. But with how Eddie has been the past weeks, it makes sense that he feels like this now. 

“Look, I don’t know if I can but…if there’s any way I can help you, please tell me”, Richie says, “I just want you to feel better and if there’s anything I can do to support you, I will.” 

“I know you will”, Eddie says and looks up at Richie for the first time in a while, “You’re the best and I don’t know how to thank you. I have no idea what I’d do without you. Sometimes I feel like I don’t even deserve you…”

“Hold it right there, Spaghetti”, Richie interrupts and earns himself a small huff for calling Eddie ‘Spaghetti’, “I’m honored to be your boyfriend, okay? And for your info, I’m not something you deserve or don’t deserve based on how you act. I mean, it’s not like you’re deliberately trying to be a dick. You’re having mental health issues and that’s okay because everyone has those every once in a while, okay? I know you love me and you’re just having a rough time right now.”

“I really do love you”, Eddie whispers at that, his voice small and Richie is almost sure that he’s crying again. When his boyfriend presses his lips to the underside of Richie’s jaw, they’re wet but the brunet doesn’t mind one bit.

“And I love you just as much”, Richie answers without hesitation, “And that’s why I’m not going to leave you. And if that big, gorgeous brain of yours tells you anything else, I want you to come right to me so I can tell you that your brain is lying to you.” 

Eddie sniffles and laughs at that then buries his face against the side of Richie’s neck. Richie moves one hand from Eddie’s back to gently card his fingers through his boyfriend’s hair. He hasn’t gotten to do this in what feels like ages and Richie’s pretty sure this is as much of a treat for him as it is for Eddie. In his arms, the smaller man relaxes slowly. Sometimes, he will cry again for a moment or two but then Richie only holds him tighter and the sobs and tears subside just as quickly as they came.

Around an hour later, they’re still on that same couch. Richie’s sitting on one end of it with his legs crossed. Next to him, Eddie is taking up the rest of the couch. Crying had exhausted him, so soon after their talk ended, he grabbed a blanket and wrapped himself up tightly in it. Eddie’s head now rests in Richie’s lap as the smaller man drifts in and out of sleep. 

But while Eddie finally seems to be able to relax, Richie is now bustling with nervous energy. He’s never had much patience and now that he knows what is truly going on with his boyfriend, he wants to get him the help he needs as quickly as possible. Technically, he knows he should wait for Eddie to be ready to go and look for help himself but now that he has seen the Eddie he knows once again, Richie just doesn’t want his boyfriend to go back to the terrified, withdrawn man he’s been these past weeks.

So, knowing full well he might be overstepping a ton of boundaries here, Richie’s quietly been messaging several therapists in the area. His messages are all some variations of  _ ‘we just moved here, and my boyfriend really needs help so if it’s at all possible to squeeze him in as soon as you can I’m willing to pay whatever you ask’ _ . It sounds terribly desperate even to Richie himself but whenever he wants to tone it down, he tells himself that Eddie really needs the support and that he’s probably going to get it sooner if Richie overdoes it a bit with the dramatics. He can only hope that one of the therapists around has time to take Eddie in and that his boyfriend won’t be too upset by Richie messaging people on his behalf.

Richie doesn’t expect an answer until at some point the next day at the earliest. So, when his phone pings with a notification early in the evening and the name of one of the therapists he messaged earlier appears at the top of the screen, the brunet’s heart does an excited leap. Even more so, when he reads the actual message, and the woman offers an emergency consultation the next day at 2pm. Of course, she’s asking a hefty fee to squeeze someone in just like that but Richie’s willing to pay whatever it takes to make Eddie feel better.

Coincidentally, the other man wakes up from another nap just as Richie finishes reading the message. The brunet decides not to put off talking to his boyfriend about what he’s been up to the past hours. 

“Hey, Eds”, he begins softly, admiring how soft Eddie looks after waking up, “I’ve been a bit busy on my phone these past hours trying to help you. And I think I figured something out. But promise you won’t get mad.”

“What did you do?”, Eddie wants to know, his carefree expression immediately replaced with a frown. Richie can feel him tense in his lap.

“I mailed a ton of therapists asking for an emergency appointment for you”, Richie admits, and Eddie’s eyes widen – whether from surprise or anger, Richie can’t say. “And there’s one who’s able to squeeze you in for an online consultation tomorrow at two.”

Eddie blinks at Richie once or twice, eyes wide with shock. For a moment, Richie’s sure his boyfriend is going to have a stroke or a panic attack or possibly both.

“That’s so soon”, Eddie mutters, voice week and breath growing sharp and irregular. Richie rests a gentle hand on Eddie’s chest and keeps it there, a reassuring weight. It’s something they discovered that helps Eddie’s anxiety-related breathing problems. Neither of them knows exactly why or how it calms the smaller man down, but it does and that’s all that matters. And as it always does, Eddie’s breathing evens out quickly. Richie can still feel his partner’s heart racing, though. 

“I can tell them that and then we’ll see if they have another slot open some other time”, Richie says.

“No”, Eddie answers firmly, his courage seeming to surprise both him and Richie, “Under any other circumstances I’d probably be yelling at you now for doing this, but…I don’t think I could’ve done this on my own anytime soon. And of course, I’m going to take that appointment. The sooner I get help, the better, right?” 

Richie nods and pulls Eddie into his arms again. The other man clings to him like a drowning man to a piece of driftwood and Richie knows Eddie’s just putting on a brave façade, that he actually means all the things he says but that there’s an abyss of anxiety lurking underneath it all. All he can do right now, though, is to be there for Eddie and to make this as easy for him as possible until he can talk to a therapist tomorrow.

In the end, Richie genuinely has no idea what the two of them do to distract Eddie that night and get him to get some sleep despite his anxiety. He vaguely remembers some kids’ program in the background that probably annoys Eddie so much he just shuts down instead of putting him at ease but as long as it helps him relax, Richie doesn’t care how it does that. 

Before the appointment on the next day, Eddie is quiet and nervous. After his meager breakfast, he immediately sits down and writes down notes on what he wants to talk to the therapist about. Richie leaves him to it and makes sure to always be at the edge of Eddie’s vision – close enough to signal he’s there when he needs it but far enough away not to intrude.

When it’s time for the appointment, Richie lets Eddie use his office for the video call as it allows for more privacy than the living room. Then he retreats to the adjacent bedroom, puts on his headphones, and chooses a random show from his ‘want to watch’-list on Netflix.

Around fifty minutes later, Richie’s heart nearly stops in his chest when he suddenly registers movement out of the corner of his eye. He knows his headphones are pretty good and he also knows he’s pretty engrossed in the show he’s watching but he did not expect to completely miss Eddie entering the room until the other man has made it almost all the way to the bed. Trying to hide his surprise, Richie pauses the video on his screen and takes off his headphones.

“Hey, how was it?”, he asks, unable to really decipher Eddie’s expression. The worry hasn’t completely left the other man’s face, but it is far less prominent compared to the previous weeks. But at the same time, Richie is sure he can make out some dried tracks of tears on Eddie’s face. Without answering, Eddie climbs onto the bed, curls up against Richie’s side, and rests his head on the brunet’s shoulder.

“Thank you”, Eddie says after a few moments of silence. Richie smiles softly and wraps an arm around him. “I really needed to talk to someone, and Dr. Robinson was amazing.”

“I’m so glad to hear that”, Richie answers and leans down a little to press a kiss to the side of Eddie’s head. It’s only then that he realizes it’s been ages since they casually exchanged any gestures of affection and that he missed this terribly. On instinct, he buries his face in Eddie’s hair and, thankfully, the other man lets him do it. 

“She said she’d put a word in for me with a friend of hers, who’s also a therapist. Dr. Robinson said she didn’t want to promise anything but maybe her friend can take me on as a regular client in a few weeks”, Eddie’s voice becomes a little wobbly at that and now Richie can definitely hear the relief in his boyfriend’s words, “And she helped me make a list of things I can do for myself until then.” 

“That’s brilliant”, Richie tells Eddie, and he means it. He can feel the excitement bubbling up in his own chest at the prospect of his boyfriend feeling better soon. “If there’s anything I can do to help, just say the word!”

Richie isn’t sure what type of reply he expects but it isn’t the sniffles and soft shaking he gets just seconds later. He wants to ask what’s wrong if there’s anything he can do to help but instead decides to just let Eddie cry it out.

“You’ve done so much for me already”, the other man says after a few moments, voice shaky and wet, “I don’t even know what I’d do without you. I’ve been such a moody bastard for weeks now and you still want to take care of me all the time…I just…I wish I could give something back…”

“How often do I have to remind you that getting to be with you is the greatest gift I could ever get, huh?”, Richie asks, “There is nothing you have to ‘give back’ to me or whatever because I’m there for you when you need help. The only thing I could ask for right now is for you to get better.”

“I think I can do that”, Eddie says and then he begins to wiggle away from Richie. The brunet lets go of him very reluctantly but when he sees the way Eddie is looking at him, he knows it’s important to the other man.

“Thank you, Richie. I mean it. I don’t know what I’d do without you.” 

Before Richie can even react, Eddie leans forward and gently presses his lips to Richie’s. The brunet doesn’t know how long it’s been since they kissed, really actually kissed and not just pressed short pecks to the other’s cheek that didn’t feel like they meant anything, and that only happened because they were trying to keep up some pretense of normalcy in their relationship. Feeling Eddie’s lips on his now makes Richie feel like a balm had been applied to his soul, warming and calming the very essence of his being. Gingerly, Richie outstretches his arms, then wraps them gently around Eddie. The other man sinks into the embrace and for a few long, wonderful moments everything feels like nothing ever changed between them.

When Eddie breaks the kiss, there’s a soft smile on his face that Richie is sure is mirrored on his own. At the same time, the smaller man looks exhausted and Richie suddenly remembers his own few attempts at therapy and how they had drained him every time.

“You wanna nap together?”, he asks. It’s not something he and Eddie do a lot, but it happens sometimes when Richie is on tour and can manage to squeeze in a day or two at home. He’ll be exhausted and not up to doing much but it had turned out in the past that napping together was something both men enjoyed and that allowed them to spend time together while Richie regained some energy.

“Yeah, I’d love to”, Eddie says and smiles softly, “But can I steal your laptop first for a second? One of the things Dr. Robinson suggested was for me to get a planer so I can structure my days again and I want to get one.”

“But only if I can help you choose one”, Richie answers, a mischievous smile spreading on his face.

In the end, they spend half an hour bickering with each other as Eddie attempts to find a planer. Of course, the smaller man constantly goes for the plainest, black moleskin variant while Richie won’t stop suggesting flashy pink and glittery ones with unicorns or princesses on them. Finally, Richie convinces Eddie to get one that has a ton of adorable, comic-style cacti on it. The thing still looks mostly professional, so Eddie is happy, but it isn’t super boring which makes Richie happy. When they crawl under the covers after this, Eddie moves closer to Richie of his own accord and the brunet gladly holds him in his arms as they fall asleep.

Richie isn’t sure what he expects to happen in the upcoming weeks. Of course, he wishes Eddie would get better soon but he knows all too well that mental health is unpredictable at best. And with how much of a blow Eddie had taken mentally this year, Richie tries to keep his expectations of a quick recovery low, so he won’t be too disappointed in case things take a while longer to mend. His plan is, instead, to be the most supportive boyfriend he can be at all times. Not that that isn’t what he’s aiming for any other day, but it feels like it’s especially important in this difficult time. He knows that his love alone won’t magically heal Eddie, but he figures being extra nice around him might help as he leaves the heavy lifting to Eddie and his new therapist.

Working with this mindset, Richie is pleasantly surprised when Eddie starts being more like his old self every day. Of course, there are still bumps in the road and sometimes Eddie will fall back into a state of depressed apathy for several days but as a whole, he seems to be getting better. He’s organizing and planning out his days to the minute with his smart little planner that arrived the day after his first therapy session and gets almost worryingly upset when Richie messes with his plans even a little bit. But after a week or two, they’ve worked the kinks out there too and things work about as well as they possibly can. At around the same time, Richie realizes with no small amount of excitement that Eddie is also eating more again. He still can’t motivate himself to cook most days but at least he’s eating most of his portion when they order in and sometimes, when Richie orders dessert, Eddie will agree to eat half of that too. The change probably isn’t even noticeable to anyone else but to Richie, who’d been keeping such a close eye on Eddie these past weeks, every pound regained feels like a personal victory.

Six weeks into this, Eddie gets a phone call from Dr. Robinson’s colleague, and three weeks after that he has his first appointment with the lady. They hit it off well enough and Richie is excited to see his boyfriend get better and better each day. He can’t say how long Eddie’s been to therapy, but it couldn’t have been more than a few weeks that Richie realizes with a start that he’s excited about coming home from work again. He had been out a lot, working things out with his new management and having various press appointments, and before, he had always dreaded coming home to a partner who would, in the best case, yell at him over some silly little thing and in the worst be as cold and distant as the brunet had never experienced him before. Richie also worried after the worst of Eddie’s depression was over that he would come home and find Eddie in another upset state where he didn’t know how to help him. Thankfully, that only happened once or twice before Eddie started therapy and Richie hopes these times don’t make a comeback anytime soon. 

For the moment, things are looking up quite a bit. Eddie gets along well with his therapist and listens to her when she asks him to do things that are supposed to help him. She also put him on medication just a few weeks into treatment and while Eddie wasn’t too happy about having to take more pills after his last therapist had spent months getting him to stop taking those he didn’t need, he tells Richie that these pills do actually help. And Richie can tell they do, too. Other couples might see the change in their partner’s behavior by how they were humming while doing the dishes or had hat particular swing in their step again. For Richie and Eddie, however, it is only when they are back to non-stop bickering about something of absolutely no consequence that Richie realizes his boyfriend is actually getting better. In hindsight, he can’t even remember what it is about that first time. They are watching some celebrity show on tv and Richie mentions how much he’d love to star on there too one day. Then Eddie comments on how Richie wouldn’t fit in there at all and things kind of just progress from there. It feels like it always has between them back in their house in Chicago and Richie loves it. 

A few more weeks have passed since then and Richie and Eddie are getting pretty close to nine months in Canada. And while there were bumps, Richie is happy for the most part. The best part about it, however, is that lately, he has a feeling that Eddie is finally happy in their new home too and there’s nothing that could get Richie’s heart to melt more than this. Sure, there are bad days and hiccups but now they have some tools to get through them together and the brunet feels like that’s bringing them closer together than they’d ever been. And yet, none of it can prepare him for what waits for him on an otherwise regular Thursday night.

Richie comes home from a long day of work, including an interview for a local newspaper, to the lights throughout most of the house dimmed and soft music playing in the dining area. The brunet toes off his shoes and hangs his jacket on the rack at lightning speed before he walks into the next room, curiosity thoroughly piqued. At the dinner table, he finds Eddie with two glasses of champagne in front of him and an excited smile on his face. The room is lit with some LED candles – Eddie likes to be romantic sometimes but the fear of burning the house down with actual candles usually gets the better of him – and it’s all very sweet and cozy. 

“Welcome home! How was work?”, Eddie asks as he gets up and hands Richie one of the champagne glasses.

“It was fine”, Richie answers vaguely and raises a brow, “Is there any particular reason for this setup?” He gestures around the room and when he turns back to Eddie, he sees the blush his boyfriend develops when he’s excited about something bloom on his cheeks. 

“I just wanted to do something nice for us. We haven’t done anything romantic in ages”, he explains, then raises his glass in a kind of toast and takes a sip from it. Richie, still thoroughly confused, takes a sip of his own champagne but tries to keep an eye on Eddie, trying to figure out what all this is about. 

“So, I got a little plan for tonight”, Eddie announces after a few moments of silence, “And of course you can say no, but I think you’ll like it.” 

“Hit me, Eds”, Richie says and earns himself an eye-roll. Luckily, Eddie seems to be too determined to get through his plan to scold him for the nickname. 

“I thought we could take things to the bedroom for a bit and then order our favorite from that nice Vietnamese place. Unless you’re hungry and want to eat first…”

Richie is about to say that, yes, he is very hungry after his day of work. But suddenly all his appetite is gone, replaced with a different kind of hunger. It’s been entirely too long since anything intimate happened between them. Richie was fine with it because he knew Eddie wasn’t doing well and he wasn’t going to pressure his partner into anything. But now that Eddie is opening up that possibility to him it rekindles something in Richie that had been dormant for a long time. And it seems to show on his face, too, because suddenly there’s an all-too-smug expression on Eddie’s face. 

“So, food first or bedroom first?”, Eddie asks with a raised brow. 

“I don’t care as long as I can get my hands on some Spaghetti”, Richie answers, impressed by the fact that he can still form words even though his brain feels completely fried. In front of him, Eddie sighs and buries his face in his hands for a moment.

“I can’t believe sex is not off the table after what you just said…” 

Before Richie can even open his mouth for another silly joke, Eddie takes a step towards him and pulls the brunet down for a kiss. Richie lets himself sink into it, realizing once again how much he’s missed even simple touches such as this. On a whim, he puts his champagne glass down and pulls Eddie closer. The shorter man goes willingly after disposing of his own glass and wraps his arms around Richie’s shoulders. They stay like this for a while, just basking in the other’s presence and letting their hands roam. Richie’s brain has all but shut down at this point, body following pure instinct. He just can’t get enough of Eddie’s lips on his and Eddie’s fingers tracing patterns across his back. And if anyone asked him at that moment, Richie would have told them that he could have happily kept on making out forever.

But then Eddie bites down on his bottom lip and everything turns more heated all of a sudden.

Eddie deepens the kiss and moves one hand from Richie’s hand to his chest from where he lets it wander down further and further until he’s almost reached the waistband of Richie’s pants. All the blood in the brunet’s body seems to follow the direction of Eddie’s hand all too eagerly, leaving Richie dizzy and more than half hard. It takes Eddie a moment or two to notice that but when he does, he begins pushing Richie back in the direction of the bedroom. The thing is that Richie has almost zero coordination even when he has his glasses on and is walking forward so, now, walking backward and with his eyes half-closed it only takes him seconds to bump into some piece of furniture and then the wall. Unwillingly on both ends, they end the kiss, silently deciding that getting to the bedroom unharmed is more important than kissing even if only for a minute or two. 

Once they’ve made it there, Richie is on the bed and naked before he even knows what’s happening. But he doesn’t have the time to stop and think about how this could have happened before Eddie is on top of him and they’re impossibly close, skin to skin. The way Richie’s fingers run across Eddie’s body is guided by sure memory. They’ve done this hundreds of times before and he has his partner’s body mapped out perfectly. His fingers glide over the soft skin of Eddie’s back, down to the firm muscles of his ass and then back up and to the side to dig into that spot at the side of Eddie’s ribcage that makes the other shriek and wriggle away because it’s the only spot where he’s ticklish. 

Their kiss breaks and Richie smiles happily up at his boyfriend while Eddie tries and fails to glare down at him.

“You always do this”, Eddie mutters, attempting to look stern and upset but with so much tenderness underneath it that Richie knows he doesn’t mind. 

“I’m inconsolable, my love. Let me make it up to you”, Richie says with dramatic gesture and puppy eyes. His hands go to Eddie’s hips and he readies himself to flip them over and take care of his boyfriend like he often does. But Eddie catches his hands mid-air and pushes them to the side. Richie is confused for a moment. Then, Eddie moves away from where he’s been kneeling above Richie’s thighs and instead places his hands there as if to push them apart. Richie’s breath catches in his throat and he eagerly spreads his legs while Eddie looks at him, searching his face for confirmation. Neither of them usually cares about who ends up bottoming or topping but usually, Richie ends up being the one on top. Bottoming is a rare treat that the brunet cherishes more than is probably reasonable, but he doesn’t care. The sight of Eddie kneeling between his legs will never cease to amaze Richie and makes him crave every touch he knows is about to come. 

“Someone’s taking really good care of me tonight, I see. You got a bad conscience or something?”, Richie asks as Eddie bends over to grab lube and a condom from the bedside table. He says it as a joke but when the idea registers with his last functioning brain cell, he’s suddenly concerned. Richie is very into this, but he doesn’t want it if it’s just Eddie’s way of apologizing for being so distant lately. 

“This isn’t what this is, right? You’re not doing this because you feel bad about your moods these past months?” 

Eddie sits back up between Richie’s thighs, lube and condom in hand, and looks thoughtful for a second. Richie’s heart is stuck in his throat as he stares up at his boyfriend. Then, Eddie shakes his head.

“It’s not”, he says slowly but firmly, “I was just thinking earlier about how it’d been a while since we’d done this and it’s the first time I’ve wanted to sleep with you in ages, so I didn’t want to let this opportunity to go to waste. Because once I thought about it, I realized how much I missed this and I figured you would’ve missed it too…so I wanted this to be a treat for both of us.”

The tight grip worry had had on Richie’s heart for a minute there immediately loosens when he hears his boyfriend’s words. 

“I really missed this too”, he says with a soft smile, “And I’m so happy to hear you feel well enough to want this again. Not just for horny-reasons but for genuine ‘you’re my boyfriend and I want you to be happy’-reasons…” It sounds silly but Richie’s too overwhelmed right now to get any more poetic than this. Instead of pondering on words for much longer, he pulls Eddie back down against him and into a deep kiss. He hopes that this might get his feelings across a little better and if the way Eddie is tenderly kissing him back is anything to go by, it seems to be working. 

They don’t stay like this for long, though. Richie can’t say how long they’ve been making out before he feels Eddie’s hand wedge itself between their bodies and wrap around his cock. He moans into the kiss and then Eddie breaks away entirely to sit between Richie’s thighs again and look down at him with so much love and determination in his expression that it goes right to Richie’s core and nestles there, warm and pleasant. 

And then Richie is too preoccupied to think about emotions or anything else, really, because Eddie’s hand wraps more tightly around his length. His boyfriend strokes him for just a few moments but it’s enough to kindle the small flame at the pit of Richie’s belly and turn it into a raging fire. He hears himself whining at the loss when Eddie lets go of him and if he wasn’t so horny, he might have been embarrassed by how needy he is after barely half a minute of getting his dick touched. 

Even though he goes a little cross-eyed, Richie can see that Eddie is uncapping the bottle of lube and spreads a generous amount of it in both his hands. Then, his left goes back to Richie’s dick while the right hovers for a moment before moving slowly to Richie’s hole. Eddie’s touch is a little clumsier with his left than with his right, but Richie doesn’t care. The sheer fact that Eddie’s touching him sets his body on fire as nothing else can. 

Moments later, he feels the tip of one of Eddie’s fingers press against his entrance and he feels like he’s going to burn alive. Usually, Richie doesn’t mind getting his dick touched or sucked while he’s getting fingered, but he can take it or leave it. The fact that now it almost feels like too much already and Eddie hasn’t even gotten a finger inside him properly, is so new and exciting that Richie is well beyond coherent thought by the time Eddie’s finger slips into him for real.

“Damn, you’re always so tight when we do this”, Eddie mutters, face screwed up in concentration as he tries to keep up the rhythm he established with his left hand without going too fast with the right. Richie wants to say something, anything, in return but when he opens his mouth all that comes out is a whine and a moan of Eddie’s name. His boyfriend smiles fondly, then leans forward to press several kisses to the center of Richie’s chest. 

“You’re killing me…”, Richie manages to get out a few moments later, needing a moment to get all his brainpower into these few words. And it’s true. It’s not like he lasts for hours usually but he’s never felt so overwhelmed so early into sex either. He figures that maybe it’s just been a while or that this is more emotional than it usually is. Whatever it is, Richie feels himself hurtling towards the edge at ridiculous speed. 

Above him, Eddie only chuckles and keeps doing what he’s doing. Richie only lasts a few more moments like this. When Eddie presses a second finger inside him, he grabs the wrist of his boyfriend’s left hand and drags it away from his dick with more force than is probably necessary. 

“You gotta stop this, Eddie”, Richie gasps, trying to keep his eyes from falling shut long enough to get his point across, “You keep touching my dick and I’m a goner in like a minute.” 

“God, you’re so dramatic”, Eddie sighs but there’s a fond smile on his face. And when he pulls his hand free from Richie’s grasp, he places it on his thigh instead. Unfortunately, none of this helps in the long run. The way Eddie’s rubbing soothing circles into the skin on the inside of Richie’s thigh and how he thrusts his fingers into the brunet’s body at the same time just keep pushing Richie towards the edge. 

“Fuck, Eddie, I mean it. I’m not gonna last”, Richie whines barely a minute after Eddie let go of his dick. The organ in question is twitching almost constantly now, dripping a neverending stream of precum onto Richie’s belly no matter how much he wills it to fucking chill. Eddie stops thrusting his fingers into him and cocks his head somewhat as he looks down at the brunet. 

“I could always just finger you and then you jerk me off”, he offers. Richie knows that Eddie truly doesn’t mind and that he’s offering this freely and not because he doesn’t have any other option. But they already got so far, and Richie wants to feel Eddie inside of him so bad that a compromise is not an option. 

“Just get your dick in me and we’ll see how long I can last”, he says, shaking his head, “You know I don’t mind if you keep going after I’m done…” Eddie blinks down at him and Richie feels a hot flush spread all over his face at that look from his boyfriend. Even after countless encounters Eddie still can’t believe Richie actually enjoys overstimulation an awful lot. The shorter man hates overstimulation with a passion he told Richie once because once he’s come every touch feels like far too much. But Richie relishes just that feeling. So, really, he isn’t sure if he’d even mind too much if he comes too early as long as he gets the feeling of burning up alive with every additional touch after he’s reached his peak. 

Eddie looks skeptical for a moment more but then withdraws his fingers and grabs the condom. 

While Eddie’s busy with that, Richie closes his eyes and takes a few deep breaths to will himself to last at least a minute or two more. Then Eddie’s left hand is back on the inside of his thigh and the head of his cock is being pressed to Richie’s hole and the brunet’s brain simply shuts down. Richie has just enough presence of mind to wrap his own hand tightly around the base of his dick to stave off an impending orgasm at least until Eddie’s fully inside him. And then he holds his breath as the feeling of Eddie pushing inside him, filling him completely, overwhelms him. Richie whines low in his throat and has to force his eyes open once again so he can take in the sight of Eddie between his legs, pelvis pressed flush against Richie’s ass and a blissed-out expression on his face.

“Fuck, I missed this so much”, Eddie mutters. Richie doesn’t know if he’s speaking to him or to himself, but he wholeheartedly agrees, nonetheless. 

Then, Eddie pulls out ever so slowly and pushes back in and suddenly Richie’s fingers are clawing at the sheets and he can’t stop moaning and whining Eddie’s name. It’s pure bliss and Richie can’t believe he went without this for so long because right now it feels like he’s going to die if this pleasure doesn’t last forever. Feeling Eddie inside and out is more than he would have allowed himself to dream of for most of his life and Richie hasn’t found anything that compares, yet. There probably isn’t anything, anyway, so he simply allows himself to enjoy and be consumed by this feeling. 

It stokes the flame in his belly that’s turning into a forest fire before long and barely a minute into it, Richie finds himself on the edge again. This time, however, Richie doesn’t try to fight it. He allows himself to be swept away by it until he comes with a shout, untouched, all over his belly and chest. Then, for the longest time, he hears nothing but the roaring of his own blood in his ears and the hammering of his heartbeat. Everything is engulfed in white-hot pleasure, every nerve-end firing, and his brain completely shut off once more. When the height of it ebbs away, Richie feels Eddie’s hands on him again, one on his thigh and one on his hip. They’re holding onto him like a vice, the blunt nails digging into the skin and surely leaving marks. But it tingles pleasantly on Richie’s skin, so he doesn’t mind. Slowly, he blinks his eyes open and looks at Eddie. 

The other man is perched between his legs, gaze laser-focused on Richie’s face. His pupils are blown impossibly wide and he’s pretty sure he’s never seen an expression of such pure desire on his boyfriend’s face. As his brain kicks back in and sensation returns to normal, he can feel Eddie still moving against him in tiny, barely-there movements. He’s moving just millimeters in and out of Richie, surely guided more by his body’s desperate desire for relief than by any conscious effort. Because when Eddie realizes Richie’s responsive again, he immediately asks: “You sure it’s okay if I just keep going?” 

“Course I am”, Richie answers, his voice rough and it breaks a little at the end there, but he still means what he says, “Want you to fuck me, Eddie.” 

At that, the other man surges forward. He ends up perched on his elbows above Richie, one hand buried in his hair and the other in the pillow just beside his head. Eddie’s face ends up smashed where Richie’s neck and shoulder meet and he presses a few hot kisses there before his hips begin moving again. Immediately, Richie is on cloud nine once more. His hands fly to Eddie’s back to look for some kind of purchase as his body goes into overdrive. Every nerve-ending in him is still on fire and every thrust of Eddie inside him makes it so much better and so much worse at the same time. Richie isn’t even trying to keep quiet, letting whimpers and desperate whines fall from his lips freely. It’s overwhelming and far too much but Richie feels like he’s never wanted anything more in his life. 

Between his legs, Eddie tries to keep it slow at first, trying not to overwhelm or hurt him. But soon enough, Eddie’s body seems to have enough of this constant holding back. His rhythm becomes erratic as his hips speed up and he wills himself to go slower again several times. But when Richie spurs him on, whispering into Eddie’s ear how good this feels and how he wants him to let go, the smaller man does so with a needy groan. 

The slow, caring thrusts make way for a fast-paced, almost brutal rhythm. Richie’s entire body screams with overstimulation at this point, torn between too much and not enough while his head is blissfully empty. All he cares about right now is Eddie in his arms and thrusting inside him. 

Then, it’s only a couple more thrusts before Eddie comes with a groan and a curse, collapsing on Richie’s chest as his grip on Richie’s hair tightens. If he were just a bit younger, Richie’s sure that would have made him come a second time. But as it is, he whines deep in his throat from the overstimulation of it all and allows himself to relish in the feeling of Eddie’s hips twitching against him as his boyfriend reaches his own peak. For a moment, Richie wishes they could have done this without a condom but if Eddie feels more comfortable like this, he isn’t going to complain. Besides, with the way they’re both pressed together chest to chest with Richie’s cum between them, there’s going to be enough clean-up as is. 

Finally, Eddie relaxes in his arms, and with a sigh, he sinks fully into Richie’s embrace. 

“Fuck anxiety. I’m never going without this for so long ever again”, he mutters after a few moments of silence. Richie snorts, unable to hold back and then both of them burst into laughter. When they settle back down, Richie runs his fingers across Eddie’s back, drawing nonsensical patterns across the soft skin in the minutes he has left before his boyfriend gets too uncomfortable with the sweat and cum on his skin and decides they need to shower. Then, Richie’s stomach growls loudly between them. 

“Wanna start part two of your plan now, Eddie?”, Richie asks, already laughing again. With a groan, Eddie lifts himself off of Richie’s chest, then smiles back down at him. 

“Sure, but only if we shower first.”

Their much-needed shower is delayed by several minutes of making out and bickering about where to order food. And then Richie decides they can order food before they shower because it’ll take at least an hour to get there which delays the shower by another few minutes. 

But finally, 50 minutes later, both men are showered, and Eddie even found time to put new sheets on the bed before dinner arrived. Now, they’re having dinner on the couch – “but only this one time, Richie, I swear!” – in their comfiest sweatpants and shirts and Richie couldn’t be happier. They turned on the tv but this time it’s because they’re both comfortable with the amicable silence between them and not because they don’t have anything to say to one another. Quite the contrary, in fact. They’re watching some nature documentary and Richie tries, among fits of laughter, to explain the circle of life to Eddie while the shorter man keeps insulting the bigger fish that eat the smaller ones.

When he has a moment to think, Richie realizes he hasn’t been this happy in far too long. And, of course, he knows not every day will be like this. Eddie is still recovering from his last bad mental health episode and maybe Richie’s is going to take a dip at some point in the future. But if the past few months have taught him anything it’s that no matter what, they can always fall back on one another. If they learn to communicate their problems and not hide them from the other to keep up a façade, they can get through anything. It’s the kind of relationship Richie has dreamed of for most of his life and that he never thought he’d get. But now he has it and with the person, he loves most, too. At this moment Richie knows that, no matter what happens or where they may go, he and Eddie will always have each other and that’s all they really need…


End file.
